I feel GREAT
They say that exercise is the best therapy for your mood, and after a week of establishing a daily running routine I have to agree. I've only been running a mile every morning, but it's amazing how great I feel. You have to understand that although I was very athletic growing up, I have NEVER had endurance. I played softball for 10 years and even ran track in middle school and was recruited to run in high school, but I was a sprinter- 100 yds max. Running long distances has always been a challenge for me. But for the first time in my life, I'm facing that challenge head on.One of the main problems I've had with exercising as an adult is establishing a routine and sticking to it. I can find an excuse to take a day off on any day of the week. It's only been a week, but already I've fought great excuses to maintain my motivation. When I woke up Friday morning after increasing my weights at my class at the Y the night before, I could barely walk down the stairs... and I still found the motivation to run. On Saturday morning when I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a bus, I still laced up my shoes and hit the road. And today when I woke up to pouring rain, I put on a hat and watched the rain fill the lake as I ran by.
When I started running last week I was having a lot of pain in my ankles and knees, and assumed that the old, worn-down shoes I was wearing didn't help. After a few recommendations from friends I made a special trip to Fleet Feet to get fitted for running shoes. I couldn't have been more impressed. I was there for nearly 2 hours while the salesman measured and inspected every inch of my feet, and found the perfect choices for me. He even went as far as watching me run on the sidewalk in each of the 3 pairs of shoes he had chosen, to make sure they were keeping my feet and joints aligned while I ran. It was an amazing experience. I left with brand new Mizunos complete with padded inserts, 4 pairs of fancy socks, new shorts and shirts (who knew you weren't supposed to run in cotton?), and a big smile on my face. If you're in need of new shoes or have never been fitted for the right shoe, I highly recommend them.
As if I needed another reason to feel great, Nick will officially be home before I know it. I can't give a specific date (as if the military would even let me know one), but it will be MONTHS earlier than expected. I'm on top of the world, but mostly still in shock. It just doesn't seem real. As crazy as it sounds, I don't think I allowed myself to believe that he would ever come home. We all deal with deployments differently, and the only way I knew how to adjust to life without him was to imagine that my life would always be without him. That brings me to another subject... I'm so nervous about his return. I'm finally in a place where I have established my own routine and found contentment as a pseudo-single adult, and I'm terrified of readjusting to having him home again. Not that I would trade it for anything in the world... it's just a little scary. I can still hear myself telling him multiple times a day after he returned from BCT that he was doing something wrong, because that's not how we did it here anymore. I have to remind myself that it's okay for the dog bowl to move to a different location, or for the laundry to quadruple in size, or for the bed to shrink to half of it's size... it's just great to have him home. I was talking to a friend of mine the other night at dinner about my worries and concerns when he comes home, and she reminded me that I feel this way EVERY time he's about to return after a long absence. She also reminded me that I worry myself for nothing, because after about 2 weeks of readjusting and fitting him back into each day, it's like he never left. She couldn't be more right.
In other news, I'm hosting one of my best friend's baby showers next weekend! The details are coming together and I'm busy working hard on some final touches, but I can't elaborate yet because she likes to quietly stalk this blog. I really hope this shower proves to be everything she has hoped for... and I can't wait for little Caroline to be here! If there's one thing I've been missing in Nashville for the last few years, it's a cute little baby around to spoil rotten :)
happy Sunday!
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